Saturday marked the first Family Fun Run/Walk in Atmore, an event hosted by the Escambia County Children’s Policy Council and aimed at generating funds for youth programs within the local communities.

Escambia County Juvenile Judge David Jordan was on hand for Saturday’s inaugural event, a 1.5-mile stretch that began and ended in front of the Atmore fire station location on Pensacola Avenue. Jordan said the CPC is an important group in Escambia County that strives to positively affect the lives of all children and youth – especially those already inside the juvenile court system.

“The CPC is a non-profit organization,” Jordan said. “Every county in Alabama has one. It brings together government entities that have anything to do with taking care of kids.”

Jordan said Escambia County’s CPC chapter has made a large impact in lives of children and its leadership continues to work toward further positive changes, such as the family drug court it created in Escambia County in 2007.

“We are very blessed to have a great spirit of cooperation within this county,” Jordan said. “We’ve been able to both generate and sustain energy.”

Jordan said one of the council’s newest undertakings, Project Turnaround, is geared towards mentoring high-risk youth and juveniles already within the county court system in hopes of avoiding repeat offenders.

“What we’ve found is that so often with kids, their problems aren’t simple,” Jordan said. “They may have problems at home and problems at school, so everywhere they look, there is a problem.”

Jordan said CPC coordinators, including Atmore’s Karean Reynolds, are currently at work within the county mentoring children and setting up events such as Saturday’s fun run/walk.

“We only have 17 kids in the program right now,” Jordan said. “But a lot of resources are being put into those 17 kids. Our coordinators can work one-on-one with them and make sure they are succeeding.”

Reynolds said Saturday’s event was a successful first outing.

“Overall it went pretty good,” Reynolds said. “We accomplished the objective, which was to promote the CPC in the community and get our name out there. We raised some funds, but we can always do more and raise more.”

Reynolds said the CPC’s next major undertaking will be an anti-bullying campaign scheduled to launch in Escambia County schools at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year.